Adair County Cherokee reservation murder from 2021 draws guilty plea from 41-year-old Stillwell man

Adair County murder from 2021 sends

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Jerry Lee Matlock, Jr., age 41, of Stilwell, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea Friday to an Information charging him with one count of Second Degree Murder in Indian Country and one count of Use, Carry, Brandish and Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

Court documents allege that on the evening of September 14, 2021, Matlock intentionally shot an individual with a rifle outside a Stilwell residence before fleeing the scene of the crime.  Adair County deputies responding to the shooting discovered the victim dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.  

The crimes occurred in Adair County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Honorable Jason A. Robertson, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.  Matlock was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal Service pending sentencing.

Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Gross represented the United States.